Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 551 posts

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#361

Post by secfirstmd »

_delirium wrote: post #272
yoodenvranx wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think iPhone performance has hit a point where one doesn't really feel the need to upgrade right away I have a cheap 2014 Motorola Moto G and I have the same "problem". Yes, there are hundreds of modern phones out there which are several times faster and have way better hardware but the Moto G is fast enough for me. I usually just browse the web, type a few messages in Whatsapp, take a few pictures, ... and the p…

You might not even get a perceptual performance boost at all. I recently upgraded from a 2013 Moto G to a current-gen Nexus 5x and it feels about the same, maybe even slightly slower, in terms of latency for common tasks and how often it gets bogged down. I think part of the problem is that the new phone has a higher-res screen, which some apps (like Facebook) adapt to by shipping much larger icon sets, loading highe…

Dam, I was just about to do the exact same thing...

Hmm, now i'm kind of out of options. As after Samsung Galaxy note experience, I said I'd never buy Samsung again.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#362

Post by jbigelow76 »

rqebmm wrote: post #28
overcast wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press. Combine that with Apple's poor UX discoverability (I'm looking at you, swipe-from-the-side-to-see-iMessage-timestamps!) and 3D Touch is basically useless.

3D Touch is Apple's gimmicky answer to Microsoft's gimmicky Windows 8 Live Tiles. It's the feature you never knew you never needed :)

BTW, thanks for the tip on the iMessage timestamps, their "seeming" absence was an obnoxious nitpick when I switched to an iPhone.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#363

Post by prewett »

epoch1970 wrote: post #210
cloudjacker wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical limits on some aspect of the system must intervene and impose a new law. Just because Apple didn't become the first trillion dollar public company by marketcap (lets assume that chinese bank ipo for a brief second didn't count), doesn't mean that it would have broken a physical limit on the system. There was a time not long ago when 100 billion companies didn't exist and there was a time when private ventu…

Might inflation due to quantitative easing, for example, be at least partially responsible for the higher valuations we see today?

The inflation rate for the last 12 months was 0.9%, and has varied from 0.1% to 3.2% over the past 5 years. [1] So, no, inflation is not responsible for the higher valuations.

Higher valuations come partly from businesses having more cash because they are not spending money expanding, and because the low interest rates encourage companies to borrow money to buy back stock, which increases EPS and dividends, which increases share prices. Of course, there has been some legitimate growth over the past years, too.

[1] http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-infla...

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#364

Post by MicroBerto »

ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

Hey Erica, hope you've been well!!! Do you have any thoughts on the software side of things?

Personally, I think Steve Jobs rolls in his grave every time yet another crappy iOS update gets issued. It's led to a general distrust of anything "forward-moving", and that's led to a distrust in the newer phones too.

Would your customers agree?

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#365

Post by nerevarthelame »

epoch1970 wrote: post #210
cloudjacker wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical limits on some aspect of the system must intervene and impose a new law. Just because Apple didn't become the first trillion dollar public company by marketcap (lets assume that chinese bank ipo for a brief second didn't count), doesn't mean that it would have broken a physical limit on the system. There was a time not long ago when 100 billion companies didn't exist and there was a time when private ventu…

Might inflation due to quantitative easing, for example, be at least partially responsible for the higher valuations we see today?

Inflation should be considered, but for what it's worth, inflation rates, while still positive, have been decreasing (overall) for several decades now - including the most recent, which featured quantitative easing. See: http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation/AnnualInflation...

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#366

Post by dschiptsov »

It is probably end of the era moment, like the end of PC back in 2005. Personal Computer is nothing special and even status/luxury brands does not make real difference. PC is mere cheap commodity.

Now there is moment when smartphone is just a phone. Apple or any other brand - does not make real difference.

Some, say, MicroMax or Huawey Android stuff is about $150, and it gives you everything, except 3D.

It is just a phone.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#367

Post by r00fus »

yourapostasy wrote: post #212
rrggrr wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll say this: Amazon Echo cut Apple's growth balls right off. That's a $2b revenue business Siri can kiss goodbye.

Apple has no one to blame but themselves (history may be rhyming here) if they lose that market. Apple had many, many quarters where they sat on Siri and did not open it up to developers via an API, and could have killed Echo in the cradle.

They still can, and that's the truth - Echo may have momentum but Apple has a 1 billion device installed base. Any opening up of Siri via API would suck the air out of the market.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#368

Post by sosborn »

tosseraccount wrote: post #229
bsirkia wrote: post #47

Incredible that this is the first time in 13 years that Apple hasn't posted quarterly growth. I'm sure there will be lots of "Apple has lost its ability to innovate" articles based on this, but growing for the last ~52 straight quarters is insane. And I don't think one quarter without growth is enough evidence to conclude "Apple may be reaching the saturation point among potential customers in some countries" or "oth…

It's a bad report across the board... AAPL YOY (year over year, not quarter) : iphone down 18% ipad down 19.5% mac down 9% revs down 13.5% eps down 18.5%

> It's a bad report across the board...

Just to put this into perspective:

> quarterly net income of $10.5 billion

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#369

Post by MOARDONGZPLZ »

ericabiz wrote: post #222
koolba wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your experience what's the usual time between battery replacements? That's been the only "killer" for phones for me. With a decent case I feel like they otherwise last forever. My personal upgrade cycle usually involves someone else's (ex: spouse or parent) phone breaking, giving them mine, and buying a new one. Otherwise I'd probably still be on an iPhone 4.

2-3 years is average, depending on how much you use your phone. Battery replacements are cheap (we charge $49 for the 5 series right now) and quick to do. Easiest way to know you need a battery replacement: Your phone gets to 40% or 20% and suddenly just dies on you. That means at least one cell in your battery is dead, and it's time to replace the whole battery. Also, if your screen is edging up on the left side but…

Wow thanks! The top left corner of my iPhone 5 is kind of pushed up. I can press it down but it doesn't stay. I thought it was a problem with the glue. Also battery life has been terrible recently.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#370

Post by TheEzEzz »

abalone wrote: post #217
overcast wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

The best 3D touch feature is the trackpad keyboard. It's also very not discoverable (who thinks to force touch the keyboard?) Having said that, 3D touch is far from the only improvement on the 6S. If it didn't have 3D touch I'd still recommend the extra $100 to get MUCH better internals (processor, cameras, touch ID sensor) and a stronger body too.

The trackpad keyboard is huge. It greatly ameliorates how horrible touch keyboards are, and makes editing text not too much of a chore. I'm afraid no one will use it and the feature will get axed.
Post reply on HN